Review of Shootist, The

Introduction

The Shootist was John Wayne`s last film, in a career that spanned 5 decades and well over 200 movies. In it he gave an acclaimed performance as a gunfighter with terminal cancer, made all the more poignant by his own circumstances. In 1976, when The Shootist was made, Wayne himself was in the final stages of his own illness, having had a cancerous lung removed some years previously. The film had to be shot around his worsening health, and he would succumb to the disease two years later.

John Bernard Books has had a long and chequered career as a gunman. Operating on both sides of the law, he is a genuine frontier legend, who through quick wits and ruthlessness has survived countless shootouts. In 1901 America though, he`s the last of a dying breed, an anachronism in a nation on the verge of entering the modern world. A doctor`s examination has him travelling to Carson City for a second opinion from his old friend Dr. E.W. Hostetler. The news couldn`t be worse, he has advanced cancer and a life expectancy measured in months, if not weeks. Books is resigned to spending his last days in Carson City and sees about finding lodgings in the guesthouse of widow Rogers. Mrs Rogers is less than thrilled at having a killer under her roof, but her son Gillom is over the moon at having his idol in his house. But Books` reputation precedes him and the vultures are soon circling. Also when Dr Hostetler explains the final stages of the disease, Books begins to look for an alternative to dying in bed.

Video

The Shootist is presented in a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. As I mentioned previously, the era of the Western had passed in Hollywood, and in comparison to the big Technicolor extravaganzas of the fifties and sixties, The Shootist is a small-scale production, almost a television movie in scope. The image itself is hardly spectacular, often quiet grainy and very soft. The colours are drab and the contrast isn`t spectacular. To put it in perspective, it still looks better than when it was shown on television most recently.

Audio

The sound is a simple DD 2.0 mono track in English. There are subtitles, again in English and the dialogue is clear enough. There were a couple of moments of hiss that were a little unpleasant though. Elmer Bernstein`s score is unremarkable.

Features

Extras include the trailer, and most prominently a 22-minute set of interviews regarding the story, the film and John Wayne. With a film like this you would expect a little more though.

Conclusion

This may not be John Wayne`s finest performance, I always prefer his role in The Searchers, but it`s up there. It certainly is his most measured performance, and The Shootist certainly ranks among the best films he ever made. It`s a peach of a film, with an excellent story, and a fine cast. Admittedly much of the poignancy that tinges the film comes with the knowledge that its star himself had cancer, yet even putting that aside, The Shootist has a lot to say about the Wild West and the people that lived it. America at the turn of the century was balanced between two worlds, where the old world of frontier justice was rapidly giving way to civilisation of a sort. The gunman had a strange sort of notoriety in America. Where else would killers be afforded the attention that today would be paid to pop stars? Yet the day of the gunman was drawing to a close and this movie reflects that transition well.

John Wayne gives a touching and understated performance as J. B. Books, a man coming face to face with his own mortality. This film is less about how he reacts, but how the people around him react. Like any famous person, his impending demise draws out the vultures that wish to cash in on his notoriety, but there is also a prize reaction from the Carson City Marshal Thibido, played with zeal by Harry Morgan. Lauren Bacall plays Bond Rogers, the widow whose guesthouse Books stays in, and the initially disapproving woman he manages to enchant. Ron Howard plays her son Gillom, who is in awe of the ailing gunfighter. There is also a fine performance from James Stewart as Dr Hostetler.

But while Books contemplates a peaceful demise in Widow Rogers` guesthouse, it soon becomes evident that his notoriety will always attract violence. Also when a man like Books is faced with a debilitating and terminal disease, going out in a blaze of glory is attractive in comparison. The inevitable shootout is directed with flair by Don Siegel, and certainly rivals the best Spaghetti Western shootouts. If you see the interviews, you can hear how the original ending of the novel was changed to what we see here. Personally I prefer the ending in the movie. It is to a degree sentimental, but given the tone of the film, and John Wayne`s reflective performance it is perfectly judged. It also is in many ways forward looking and optimistic, as Gillom is faced with a choice, and it is he who decides whether the shootout will herald the passing of the torch, or the closing of a chapter.

The Shootist is an exceptional film in its own right, and as the final film in John Wayne`s career, simply crowns the legacy of a genuine movie star.